Athletics at the 1980 Summer Olympics – Men's 800 metres

This Olympic 800-metre final was a notably tactical one. Already on the first back straight, there was some physical contact in the tightly bunched eight-man field. Britain's Steve Ovett was boxed in and pushed East Germany's Detlef Wagenknecht, in order to get more room and a tactically better place. The first 200 metres were run in about 26 seconds, according to the long-time BBC sports journalist David Coleman. At that point, Brazil's Agberto Guimaraes was leading the race, flanked by Britain's David Warren. On the first home straight, Ovett again tried to force his way to a better position, elbowing Wagenknecht and the Soviet Union's Nikolay Kirov. Unofficially the 400-metre split time was 54.55 seconds. Behind Guimaraes, Warren and Wagenknecht, Kirov and East Germany's Andreas Busse were tied for the fourth place. Ovett and France's José Marajo ran right behind Busse. The strongest pre-race favourite, and the sole world record holder at 800 metres, 1000 metres and the mile, Britain's Sebastian Coe, was running eighth, and almost touched the third lane's edge. At or around 430 or 440 metres, Warren suddenly sprinted past Guimaraes. Kirov rose to the second place, and on the final back straight, Ovett moved to the third place. With over 200 metres to run, Kirov kicked into the lead, followed closely by Ovett. Only at this point, Coe began to sprint hard, moving quickly into the fifth place. On the final bend, Kirov and Ovett were able to maintain their lead over Guimaraes and Coe. In the final straight's first half, Ovett easily passed Kirov while Coe desperately accelerated towards Guimaraes. While he managed to pass the Brazilian, Coe lost valuable time and energy, and he was only able to catch one more runner, Kirov, in the final straight's second half. At the finish line, Ovett was still some three-and-a-half metres ahead of Coe, who finished a disappointed second, just half a metre ahead of the fading Kirov. (See YouTube videos of the 800-metre final; Kenny Moore, Best Efforts; Pat Roberts, The Perfect Distance: Coe and Ovett - The Record-Breaking Rivalry; Juoksija-lehti (The Runner Magazine), Moskovan olympiakirja (The Moscow Olympic Book).)

Rank	Final	Time
	Steve Ovett (GBR)	1:45.4
	Sebastian Coe (GBR)	1:45.9
	Nikolay Kirov (URS)	1:46.0
4.	Agberto Guimarães (BRA)	1:46.2
5.	Andreas Busse (GDR)	1:46.9
6.	Detlef Wagenknecht (GDR)	1:47.0
7.	José Marajo (FRA)	1:47.3
8.	David Warren (GBR)	1:49.3

• Held on Friday 1980-07-25

Rank	HEAT 1	Time
1.	Steve Ovett (GBR)	1:46.6
2.	Andreas Busse (GDR)	1:46.9
3.	Agberto Guimarães (BRA)	1:46.9
4.	Owen Hamilton (JAM)	1:47.6
5.	Milovan Savić (YUG)	1:47.6
6.	Roger Milhau (FRA)	1:48.1
7.	Colomán Trabado (ESP)	1:48.1
8.	Mehdi Aidet (ALG)	1:48.2

Rank	HEAT 2	Time
1.	Sebastian Coe (GBR)	1:46.7
2.	Detlef Wagenknecht (GDR)	1:46.7
3.	Binko Kolev (BUL)	1:47.3
4.	William Wuycke (VEN)	1:47.4
5.	Anatoliy Reshetnyak (URS)	1:48.2
6.	Philippe Dupont (FRA)	1:49.7
7.	Musa Luliga (TAN)	1:51.5
8.	Derradji Harrek (ALG)	1:51.9

Rank	HEAT 3	Time
1.	Nikolay Kirov (URS)	1:46.6
2.	David Warren (GBR)	1:47.2
3.	José Marajo (FRA)	1:47.3
4.	Olaf Beyer (GDR)	1:47.6
5.	Antonio Páez (ESP)	1:47.8
6.	Carlo Grippo (ITA)	1:48.7
7.	András Paróczai (HUN)	1:48.8
8.	Sriram Singh (IND)	1:49.0

• Held on Thursday 1980-07-24

Rank	HEAT 1	Time
1.	Steve Ovett (GBR)	1:49.4
2.	Antonio Páez (ESP)	1:49.5
3.	Philippe Dupont (FRA)	1:49.6
4.	Sri Ram Singh (IND)	1:49.8
5.	Abebe Zerihun (ETH)	1:50.3
6.	Langa Mudongo (BOT)	1:52.5
7.	Kenneth Hlasa (LES)	1:56.1

Rank	HEAT 2	Time
1.	Detlef Wagenknecht (GDR)	1:47.5
2.	Nikolay Kirov (URS)	1:47.5
3.	András Paróczai (HUN)	1:47.5
4.	Colomán Trabado (ESP)	1:47.9
5.	Musa Luliga (TAN)	1:49.6
6.	Jón Didriksson (ISL)	1:51.1
7.	George Branche (SLE)	1:54.6

Rank	HEAT 3	Time
1.	Andreas Busse (GDR)	1:47.4
2.	Anatoliy Reshetnyak (URS)	1:47.9
3.	Agberto Guimarães (BRA)	1:48.2
4.	William Wuycke (VEN)	1:48.5
5.	Derradji Harek (ALG)	1:49.9
6.	Tisbite Rakotoarisoa (MAD)	1:50.5
7.	Khaled Hussain (KUW)	1:54.6

Rank	HEAT 4	Time
1.	Sebastian Coe (GBR)	1:48.5
2.	Roger Milhau (FRA)	1:48.5
3.	Binko Kolev (BUL)	1:48.7
4.	Carlo Grippo (ITA)	1:48.9
5.	Archfell Musango (ZAM)	1:51.6
6.	Mohamed Makhlouf (SYR)	1:52.3
7.	Jimmy Massallay (SLE)	2:04.4

Rank	HEAT 5	Time
1.	Olaf Beyer (GDR)	1:48.9
2.	Milovan Savić (YUG)	1:49.2
3.	Owen Hamilton (JAM)	1:49.3
4.	Salem El-Margini (LBA)	1:50.0
5.	Atre Bezabeh (ETH)	1:52.7
6.	Adam Assimi (BEN)	1:59.9

Rank	HEAT 6	Time
1.	José Marajo (FRA)	1:49.6
2.	David Warren (GBR)	1:49.9
3.	Mehdi Aidet (ALG)	1:50.4
4.	Nigusse Bekele (ETH)	1:51.1
5.	Sekou Camara (GUI)	1:58.9
6.	Vongdeuane Phongsavanh (LAO)	2:05.5
7.	Sahr Kendor (SLE)	2:06.5